Ben Stiller blames social media for decline of comedy films
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Los Angeles: Hollywood actor Ben Stiller has blamed social media for the shrinking space for comedy films, saying the constant online scrutiny has made the entertainment industry overly cautious.
The 59-year-old actor, known for hits such as There’s Something About Mary and Zoolander, said the “immediate response” enabled by platforms like Twitter has changed the creative climate, reports Female First UK.
“There are landmines everywhere. Twitter changed everything. It took off in 2009, and offers an immediate response,” Stiller told The Times newspaper.
He recalled the controversy surrounding “Simple Jack”, a character with learning disabilities from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder. “We had issues on ‘Tropic Thunder’ with Simple Jack. It wasn't a Twitter storm. Everything didn't blow up. But instant reactivity can now, all of sudden, just kill,” he said.
Stiller added that such an atmosphere has made both filmmakers and studios more fearful. “Yes, you're more trepidatious, and there's no denying the environment is more volatile, but when studios keep saying no, creatives will stop trying and, instead, pivot to movies they think will get made, and that's awful. Studios are trying to create movies that will make a billion dollars, but comedy is cut and dried. People are laughing or not. And that's tough.”
The actor, son of the late comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, also spoke about feeling a sense of duty to honour them in his new documentary ‘Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost’, which he directed.
“I just had to make something for my parents. My dad died during Covid, so there was no memorial. When my mum died, five years earlier, we did an event on Broadway, and so I felt pressure,” he said.
Reflecting on his own family life, Stiller admitted that, like his parents, he too spent long periods away from home focusing on his career when his children, Ella, 23, and Quinn, 20, from his marriage to actress Christine Taylor, were younger.